Zynga to Launch Games Platform, Invites Third-party Developers
Zynga will launch its own social gaming platform and open it up to third-party game developers, the company announced on Thursday.
The maker of "Mafia Wars" and "FarmVille" will soon have its own website where people can sign up and play games with their friends. Today its games are played primarily on Facebook, Yahoo and a few other websites, as well as on smartphones.
In a big change for the company, Zynga will also allow third parties to develop games that run on its platform. Initial partners include MobScience, Row Sham Bow and the Canadian company Sava Transmedia. Zynga isn't leaving Facebook; it said its gaming platform will be "fully integrated with Facebook," allowing people to start a game on its website and pick up where they left off on Facebook, for instance.
